Often Irreverent, Mostly Rational Blog for Fans of the Toronto Blue Jays. One Day, We'll Be Perfect.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Scott Downs is toast

Since returning from the DL following his valiantly stupid attempt to swing the bat late in an interleague game, Scott Downs has been nothing less than awful.

In 6.2 innings since his return, Downs has one save (versus two blown saves), along with three losses. He's given up 6 runs over that short span, good enough for an ERA of 8.10, and opponents have posted a 1.104 OPS against him.

Cito Gaston might like the notion of players having their specific role that they fill on the club, but with Jason Frasor, Brandon League and even Jeremy Accardo all pitching better than Downs over the past month, it's time to let Scotty GreaseMullet to return to a low-leverage LOOGY role until he can throw strikes again.

I'm suffering here Tao. By my calculations the Jays are 2 HBP, 5 bloop singles and 3 throws from the outfield that needed to go one degree off of where they ended up from being tied with the Red Sox. I've never seen this kind of luck for the Jays and I remember the snowy games at the Ex.

Anyway, the Closer... I agree, Downs needs to figure it out in innings other than the 9th. Frasor's the guy now for me (even though the 9th would now take the equivalent of three of Doc's innings). I'd really like to see a total fireballer in that spot. Someone with a 91 mph slider, like *dun dun DUNNNN...* MacGowan. I'll go back to dreaming about next year now and hoping that MacGowan will find his way back.

@ Voodoo Matt, luck is the iffiest metric of all metrics. Let's be blunt: they are not a great team. Their closer has blown a few games this year,the 3 and 4 hitters were the worst in the league and the manager is absolutely clueless when it comes to a bullpen. One run losses? Luck? One run losses tells me one thing; they can't seem to have the offense that would give them the edge the other way(and their bullpen has been spotty this year). All in all, luck effects every team BUT shittyness is this team's real affliction NOT luck!

Frankly, I'm wishing that we had someone like Joe Madden handling our bullpen at this point. He's too cute by a half sometimes, but he's not afraid of deviating from the plan in order to get the out that he needs at that moment.

I thought Madden was being absurd with his bullpen on Saturday afternoon...but look who was smiling in the end.

tsk, tsk,not enough trust in Cito - he's already made it clear in the past that he likes to stick with guys who seem very likely to lose games now because they are the ones who win twice as many later. So, in other words, if Frasor or League came in, and the Jays won, we'd basically be screwed because we don't to win NOW, we want to win LATER.

Downs made plenty of shitty pitches in that inning. It's just a further kick in the balls that the last one was a good one. Sausage King for closer in 2009! (and it shocks me that anyone could think for a moment that I didn't know WIWG was talking about Wells and Rios)

If you look at what I actually wrote, it was that they needed to take Downs out of the closer role for the time being and let him get a few good clean innings under his belt before putting him into the closer role.

He's not pitching well, and he hasn't pitched well - with the exception of one game - since coming off the DL.

Did any of you happen to catch the Cardinals/Dodgers game last night? That was a great game with managerial moves and clutch hitting that we haven't seen in a long time with the Jays. St Louis managed to tie it twice (bottom 9 and 11 before winning it in 15)